TXMHPO
Level 1 (1 points)

Q: Location Services issue with IPhone 6 - showed me 60 miles from where I was!


On September 26 of this year I left my residence to go to work security at an event. Left after 8am and pulled into the parking lot of the expo center where it was held right at 830. Spent all day there walking around, talking to vendors, etc. My wife uses the Find my Iphone app to locate my teenaged son who was late getting home. We were all sharing one apple login (we all have separate apple id's now), and my phone shows me about 60 miles away at  4:50pm. My location then showed about 5 miles from where I was working before bouncing back to the wrong location about 60 miles away. She pings my phone through Find my Phone a short time later and it shows me about a mile away before finally getting to my actual location. Looked at my phone when I got home. I checked my phone through Settings>Privacy>Location Services>System Services>Frequent Locations and it showed me in the wrong location from 0800 to 1730 hours. I was indoors the entire time in a building that is known for bad cell service. Building is also equipped with wi-fi. Numerous vendors were doing business on their phones and possible hot spots. I am wondering if anyone else has had this issue and what might have caused it. The phone seems to be showing the proper locations after that.

 

Thanks

iPhone 6, iOS 9.2

Posted on Dec 31, 2015 9:34 PM

by Malcolm J. Rayfield,Apple recommended
Malcolm J. Rayfield Malcolm J. Rayfield
Level 5 (7,928 points)
A:

If the event was indoors, the phone couldn't use GPS (or cellphone towers due to the bad signal) and was locating via Wi-Fi, the building's or vendors'.  If the building's Wi-Fi was not in Apple's location database, because it has not been picked up by iPhones outside the building which used GPS and sent the location to Apple, your phone would be stuck with vendor's WI-Fi for location.  It could end up with a vendor's last recoded location.

Posted on Dec 31, 2015 10:35 PM

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TXMHPO

Q: Location Services issue with IPhone 6 - showed me 60 miles from where I was!

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Malcolm J. Rayfield,Apple recommended

    Malcolm J. Rayfield Malcolm J. Rayfield Dec 31, 2015 10:35 PM in response to TXMHPO
    Level 5 (7,928 points)
    Dec 31, 2015 10:35 PM in response to TXMHPO

    If the event was indoors, the phone couldn't use GPS (or cellphone towers due to the bad signal) and was locating via Wi-Fi, the building's or vendors'.  If the building's Wi-Fi was not in Apple's location database, because it has not been picked up by iPhones outside the building which used GPS and sent the location to Apple, your phone would be stuck with vendor's WI-Fi for location.  It could end up with a vendor's last recoded location.

  • by Coolbobcat2,Apple recommended

    Coolbobcat2 Coolbobcat2 Jan 1, 2016 1:36 AM in response to TXMHPO
    Level 3 (516 points)
    Jan 1, 2016 1:36 AM in response to TXMHPO

    Hello,

     

    I understand you'd like to know what might have cause your iPhone 6 to show you an inaccurate location instead of it showing your physical location.

     

     

    Your iPhone uses several combinations of the following to determine your location: Cellular, Wi-Fi, GPS Networks, and Bluetooth.

    Location precision varies on your device, and the available services. If you're not within line of sight with a GPS, your iPhone uses crowd-sourced Wi-Fi, and cell tower locations or iBeacons to locate you.

     

    If you'd like to improve the accuracy of your location, you can:

    • Restart your device
      • Press and hold on the Sleep/Wake button until the red slider appears
      • Drag the slider completely to power off your iPhone
      • Once the iPhone is off, press and hold on the Sleep/Wake button until the Apple logo appears.
    • Make sure you have the right date, time and time zone correctly on your iOS device. You may do this in:
      • Settings > General > Date & Time
        • If you can, try to set the date and time to "Set Automatically"
        • Note, if you've synced your iPhone to your computer the time on your computer may sync to your iPhone. Verify both the computers and iOS device have the right date, time, and time zone.
    • Check to make sure you have a Cellular or Wi-Fi connection to allow A-GPS (Assisted-GPS) to help locate satellites faster.
    • Make sure you keep in mind factors such as the ones below that may affect poor GPS accuracy:
      • You have a clear view of the horizon.
      • Walls, vehicle roofs, tall buildings, and mountains as well as other obstructions can block the line of sight with a GPS. When this happens, your iOS device uses your cellular or Wi-Fi connection to determine your location until it another satellite becomes visible.
      • If your device is passcode locked, the feature may be limited or inaccurate.

     

    I hope this helps answer your question.

     

  • by TXMHPO,

    TXMHPO TXMHPO Dec 31, 2015 11:18 PM in response to Malcolm J. Rayfield
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Dec 31, 2015 11:18 PM in response to Malcolm J. Rayfield

    about 3 days later I was going through the maps on my phone and noticed that there were several dropped pins to locations that I haven't been to or even recognize the location.One of those locations was the wrong location that showed up earlier. Do you have any idea how this might have happened? I never had any problems with my previous phone, a 3GS. When I got a new 6 in the beginning of September it seemed everything was good but after the 26th, things keep showing on my phone that don't make a lot of sense. I know this sounds REALLY out there but is there a possibility that my phone or one of our other phones were cloned or something?

     

    Thanks

  • by Coolbobcat2,

    Coolbobcat2 Coolbobcat2 Jan 1, 2016 5:00 AM in response to TXMHPO
    Level 3 (516 points)
    Jan 1, 2016 5:00 AM in response to TXMHPO

    Hi,

     

    If you're using the built in Maps app on your iPhone, you can use pins to help plan your trips or remember places. To place pins, you'll need to tap and apply a little pressure on a location for a pin to appear. If you want to move a pin, you touch and hold on the pin and drag it to a new location. If you want to delete a pin, tap on it then tap on it's label then choose "Remove Pin." I can understand the switch from an older iPhone to a newer iPhone can be a little more confusing, and that's okay. As you use your iPhone more, you'll become more experienced with it. I doubt your iPhone was cloned or replicated.

     

     

  • by TXMHPO,

    TXMHPO TXMHPO Jan 2, 2016 12:29 AM in response to Coolbobcat2
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Jan 2, 2016 12:29 AM in response to Coolbobcat2

    so how do I get dropped pins at locations that I have never been to or looked for in maps? They just appeared ad dropped pins out of the blue?

  • by Coolbobcat2,

    Coolbobcat2 Coolbobcat2 Jan 2, 2016 12:08 PM in response to TXMHPO
    Level 3 (516 points)
    Jan 2, 2016 12:08 PM in response to TXMHPO

    Hi,

     

    If I'm right, their are two pins available in the native maps app on your iPhone. The red pin is placed automatically, and are results from your map searches. Purple pins are created by the person using the phone. I would try checking and making sure you're not accidentally putting too much pressure on a certain area on the map, since that's how the purple pins are placed. Try clearing your map searches too by opening Maps, then tapping in the "Search for place or address" bar, then tapping on "Favorites, then selecting "Recents", then selecting "Clear", then tapping on "Clear All Recents" then tapping on "Done" to close the menu.